Review
Release Date: 06.24.2008
Platform:
Nintendo DSDeveloper:
Square-Enix Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Square-Enix USAReviewed by
Christopher Pioli on 11.9.2008
| Review Rating: 6/10 | User Rating: 8/10 |
I was really looking forward to another entry in the
Final Fantasy Tactics series, and was hoping
Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2: Grimoire of the Rift would be similar to the original game. But it isn’t. And I'm disappointed.
There is a laundry list of things I don’t like about this game, but before I cross those off let me first start with what I thought was good. The bottom line is this is the same turn-based tactical battle system from the previous two games in the
Tactics series, and newcomers to the
Tactics franchise will have fun with it.
The game takes the mission-based system and improves it by making entire series of missions their own unique story arcs – totally optional and separate from the main story, but engaging in their own right. Additionally, many rewards can be gathered from these mission arcs including special characters, jobs, and rare and unique items.
On top of that, there are plenty of cameos from
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and
Final Fantasy XII, and the game expands upon the Ivalice universe. The game takes place in the Rozarria Empire, which wasn’t touched in any of the previous games that are part of the “Ivalice Alliance”.
Unfortunately those are the few good things I can say about the game. In truth, there are many things wrong with
FFTA2, and many of them have to do with the good things I just listed. Although the misson story arcs are interesting and fun to play through, the main story is an absolute bore. Luso Clemens, like Marche in the first
Advance game, opens a book and is sent into the world of Ivalice, and spends the rest of his time finding his way back home.
It feels like the plot has been done before, and it has -
Advance's story, while nowhere near as interesting as the original
Tactics’, was still enjoyable. At least I cared about Marche and the other characters in that game – I don’t care about Cid, or Luso, or any of the characters they encounter over the course of this game. They have just as much reason to be in the game as every other generic clan member you control in combat. People criticized
Advance for its lack of an interesting plot compared to the original
Tactics, but they’ll come to appreciate that game’s relative depth when compared to
Advance 2.
The battle system retains its core assets, but the enormous amount of additions and modifications to the system erodes its cohesive nature. Probably the most annoying is that the Judges have returned, and are still handing out laws. This time, however, more strict laws are enforced and the punishments are more severe. You’ll find yourself bending over backwards trying to hold up laws like “Don’t miss” or “Move 3 squares at a time” or “No Counterattacks”, and when you accidentally break one of them your punishment is the inability to revive team members and the loss of any bonuses you chose at the beginning of battle. The bonuses offered at the beginning of battle have to be earned by going through clan trials, and vary from “Regen” to strength or magic increases, or increased movement. It seems like a nice addition to the game at first glance, but it’s really a poor means of easing the difficulty level, which should have been properly calibrated in the first place instead of adding a band-aid of a feature like “bonuses.”
Two new races have been added: the Seeq and the Gria, and with them come more job classes. There are over fifty different job classes in the game, ranging from the essential (White Mage, Paladin) to the confusing and mundane. Many of the jobs are really just clones of existing jobs. Hume Ninjas are Viera Assassins and Moogle Jugglers, Bangaa Warriors are Hume Fighters, etc. It’s confusing and complicated. But what makes it all worse is that many of these jobs
have to be found by taking on missions, and lots of them. It doesn’t really seem worth the effort, not when I have ten good fighters who already have all the abilities and skills anyone could want.
And the mission system, though unique, is frustrating. Some missions can only be accepted at particular towns, so if you miss out on one or two because you were traveling through a different continent, then you’re out of luck until the next in-game year.
This becomes especially troublesome due to the equipment system: all new weapons, armors, and items are obtained through the Bazaar. If you trade in particular loot found after completing missions, you’ll gain access to new stock. But unfortunately, the ability system from
Advance returns, and you have to earn your abilities from equipment. This becomes a problem, especially when you lack the loot required to access essential abilities, techniques or spells. I went through the entire game without “Curaga” due to a misstep, and permanently lost the chance to purchase a weapon that provided 3 abilities to Moogle jobs because I accidentally sold a one-time only piece of loot. In some cases you might find yourself repeating missions for loot that gives you the next line of equipment, and this is when the game morphs into a “fetch quest” from a genuine tactics game.
Battles in this game are very
slow and irritating, mostly a result of the new character animations which, although elaborate and more detailed than before, end up eating away at real-world time. I find myself irritated by the fact that it takes a minute to execute one of the more complicated turns in the game simply because of extravagant animations and menu navigation. You should not have to dig through menus on a handheld with two screens, nor should you be limited to a single isometric view on a handheld capable of real-time polygonal environments. The DS has more processing power than the original PlayStation, yet we’re still chained down by static battlefields? I get the strange feeling this game began its development on the Game Boy Advance, and switched over mid-way through development. That’s the only logical explanation for such serious flaws in the interface’s design.
The worst issue with the game is that you are not given any MP at the beginning of battle. You earn 10 MP every turn, but it’s a small amount and shouldn’t take two or three turns for a clan member dedicated to magicks to do what they were trained for. True, there are ways to get around this mechanic, but not until you’ve gotten through the first half of the game, which is ironically when you need those abilities most.
I’m sorry, but I have a hard time recommending this game to anyone except first timers. Everyone else would be disappointed with how the series has progressed. I especially find it hard to recommend this game when another
Tactics game -
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion Wars, a remake of one of my top 5 all-time favorite games – is available for $20 on the PlayStation Portable. Even if you had to buy the game and PlayStation Portable for a hundred or more dollars, I’d still think it was a better investment of your money than
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift. Consider yourself warned.
